As you probably noticed, ballots arrived in mailboxes this week—in January—for what King County is vaunting as its first all-mail election. The entire special election is devoted to choosing the elections director, who’s tasked with, among other things, making sure we don’t waste money on superfluous bullshit. But voters passed a measure in November to make the elections director an elected position so now here we are.
You are, no doubt, waiting with bated breath to learn who the Stranger Election Control Board will endorse. So if you’re vacillating among candidates—Pam “Someone moved the flowers on my desk so maybe I should shoot them” Roach, Julie Anne “I lied about the election when I was the elections superintendent” Kempf, David “I lost against Sims so I’m bringing it down a notch” Irons, or Sherril “I mailed out these damn ballots this time so elect me already” Huff, or one of the other guys—you’ll have to check out next week’s issue of the Stranger.
In the meantime, consider the grave injustice of all-mail elections. The stamp is a deterrent to voting. I mean, not only is it a pay-to-play game, but who has a fucking stamp anymore? Look at this picture taken last year on election day at the post office:
What do these people in the picture have in common? Like me, they’re waiting in a 10-minute line to buy an individual stamp (rather than an entire book, which is all the vending machines sold) so they can mail their ballot. This is more annoying that voting in a poll booth. Clearly the solution is to run a county-wide initiative to requiring no-postage-required ballots, which we could all vote on next year—through another all-mail, stamp-required election.
I just dropped mine off downtown, which worked just fine, and was free. http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/voti…
Most post offices have vending machines that can sell you a single stamp, then you don’t have to wait in line. Or is carrying change too common for you?
I think people would be glad to donate money to the state to make this happen. I’d give twenty bucks if it meant that more people would get to send their ballots for free.
@ 2) They didn’t have individual stamps at the machines in three post office I went to; they would only sell them in books. An employee said that’s how they do it these days. I didn’t want to buy a book, so I–along with a over a dozen other people–waited in line.
so buy a book of stamps, and use them when you vote? get those “forever” stamps, and you’ll be set for life.
you’re welcome.
Give that voter an inch and he takes a mile.
are you seriously going to bitch about the price of one stamp? it’s far less expensive and convenient than taking time off from work to go and vote in a booth.
I have stamps because my property management is too fucking lazy/cheap to install a drop box for rent checks and then drive half a mile to pick them up or pay someone to do it, so I mail my rent every month, usually several days late because of said bullshit.
@ 5) I did. I lost them. Twice. Because I suck.
@ 3 Are you high? People won’t agree for reasonable taxation for things like rapid transit and healthcare. Do you really think the electorate will support a tax to fund free mail-in voting?
@ 4 I drip with sympathy over your patriotic sacrifice. I mean, waiting in line, how did you survive? Maybe next time just visit one post-office and if they don’t have single sales stand in line there instead of visiting 3 more. Maybe pick-up a book of stamps and then you will be ready for the next 20 elections. There’s a thought. It will save you time and save us having to wax about the injustice of having to spend 42 cents to vote.
@ 5) I did. I lost them. Twice. Because I suck.
@ 3 Are you high? People won’t agree for reasonable taxation for things like rapid transit and healthcare. Do you really think the electorate will support a tax to fund free mail-in voting?
@ 4 I drip with sympathy over your patriotic sacrifice. I mean, waiting in line, how did you survive? Maybe next time just visit one post-office and if they don’t have single sales stand in line there instead of visiting 3 more. Maybe pick-up a book of stamps and then you will be ready for the next 20 elections. There’s a thought. It will save you time and save us having to wax about the injustice of having to spend 42 cents to vote.
I’ll be dropping mine off for free at the UW drop location at 45th and University at the Neighborhood Center.
Voting for anyone other than Huff is a vote for Pam Roach. We all know that.
How is it not a 42¢ poll tax?
@ 14 Because you can drop your ballot off at collection centers also.
aww. here, have a hug. and steal your stamps from the office like the rest of us.
Those forever stamps kick ass. What is the point of buying the non-forever stamps? Aren’t they the same price?
So you don’t have stamps. BFD. Just meter it.
I have a poli sci prof who went off on this tanget once about the poll tax that is having to put a stamp on his ballot. There is a pretty strong constitutional case regarding the twenty-fourth amendment and stamps.
You know for a fact that all those people were in line to buy one stamp?
The people most affected by a 42 cent poll tax (the poor and the elderly) are probably the ones most likely to always have stamps on hand (as they’re the least likely to pay for all their shit online).
Voting in a booth is not annoying! Polling places fucking rule, and I’m totally steamed that they’re history.
I mean, granted, for a knockoff plebiscite such as this, it kinda makes sense. But for the primaries and the generals: bring back polling places.
Can I get an, “Amen”?
Why aren’t the envelopes pre-stamped or metered? If pre-stamped is too expensive there must be a way that ,if sent by mail, the state can be charged per piece, or more drop boxes made available in high density areas. Honestly – it’s like we live in the dark ages sometimes.
Wouldn’t prepaid ballots in King County increase our turnout versus socially backward counties in eastern Washington? Free ballot postage = gay marriage, legalized marijuana, mass transit, etc.
Wasn’t King County’s first all mail election that viaduct vote a couple of years ago? The postage wasn’t paid then, either.
@2: You must not live in Seattle…all Seattle Post Offices got rid of vending machines last year. If you want actual stamps you have to buy from a teller.
The automated machines in the lobbies do not accept cash and only issue little bar coded stickers. Fine for packages, but horribly inconvenient for individual letters.
Who has a stamp? The same people who have more than two pieces of tupperware with lids that fit. They are, to be clear, the grown ups. That’s who.
This is why we don’t have a US Department of Giving a Shit About What Annoys Childless Broke Twentysomethings Who Never Vote.
Price of a stamp to mail in your ballot? 41 cents. Price of standing in line for hours to vote? Many dollars. If you’re missing work to go vote, you’re losing far more money than a goddamn stamp is worth.
@ 27. Don’t think your vote will get counted if you use a 41c stamp. Seeing as they are 42c now.
Even if you almost never need a stamp, there is no reason you shouldn’t go buy a single book of Forever stamps and just keep it in a drawer somewhere. Never need to know what the current cost of a stamp is, or deal with buying 2c stamps when the price goes up again.
But on-topic, I was pretty peeved when this ballot needed a stamp. If they are forcing people to go to an all vote-by-mail system, then the ballot postage should be pre-paid. It might not affect the vote much in a presidential election, but I bet less people will vote in these one-off elections if they have to deal with postage. People *are* that lazy.
@25 are you kidding me? YOU must not live in seattle because i was at the wallingford post office not too long ago and in the lobby they have a vending machine that sells single stamps. and i’m talking bar coded stickers but real stamps.
it also took cash, hell, it even accepted pennys.
I’m going with Sherril Huff and am willing to spend the $0.42 to do so.
@28: The question is, how many people are kept away by having to go to a physical polling place to vote, versus the number of people kept away by having to pay for a stamp? It hasn’t been studied, as far as I know.
If you can’t figure out how to find a stamp, what makes you think you can run a countywide initiative?
I think you can get stamps at the grocery store. Just ask for them at the cash register.
Also, why not just buy the book from the vending machine, use the one stamp you need, and pass out the rest to the other sad people who only needed one stamp? You could’ve taken a collection, or just been generous and made some people’s day.
I’ll personally donate a stamp to any whiner who needs one, if it keeps them from bitching about it.
The whining in this post is a bit much, but since we’re now all-vote-by-mail, I don’t understand why they can’t simply be metered or postage-paid envelopes distributed. The additional cost would be minimal, it avoids one more question/problem for people voting (lame excuse, but probably stops a few people).
C’mon – the more people that vote, the more Democrats will win. Someone should push federal legislation that requires all states to off no-fault permanent absentee voting with postage paid envelopes (and offers states money from the federal budget to cover the costs). Then at least early voting by mail would be an option in every state. And judging by WA’s experience, enough people would voluntarily sign up for the mail option that it would eventually force the states to go all-vote-by-mail.
What’s not to like? Not perfect (I wish you could print a “perfect ballot” at home, to ensure there were no stray marks, over-votes, under-votes, etc.) but better than anything else and doesn’t introduce the security issues with online voting.
How do you get by w/o stamps? How do you pay yr bills? Or send Christmas cards? Or other kindsa cards…Valentine’s, etc.? Or send postcards when yr traveling? And ya know, there’s nothing as sweet as getting a nice handwritten note that’s mailed to you…
If you don’t regularly use stamps, I would buy a book to keep some on hand “just in case” for moments like this.
It is a drag they have taken out vending machines. None at the Cap Hill PO anymore. The clerk said he was told it wasn’t “cost effective.” I noticed they had one vending machine at the downtown PO. The main PO. One vending machine. Thanks for your consideration.
I always have plenty of stamps on hand. But I do think the envelopes should be pre-paid, and/or they should have a lot more drop off boxes.
Dominic, you have made some good points about the staggering mediocrity of the candidates in King County’s long-awaited totally mail-in ballot election for elections director, but please stop sniveling and whining about mail-in ballots. Oregonians have been mailing in their ballots without sniveling for many years.
This farcical election wouldn’t even be occurring if it weren’t for Ron Sims’ cluelessness regarding rampant managerial ineptness in his pathetic chain of command. I wish there were some way we could make him start paying attention, but there just isn’t. My desperate hope that both Ron and Mayor Jowly would get tapped for obscure positions in the Obama administration has been crushed, making this winter’s instance of SAD even more brutal than usual.
Still, I feel consoled in knowing that not only will I be able to lazily mail in my ballot in perpetuity, I can also continue to slack off by voting for the Stranger Election Control Board candidate you will specify next week instead of tediously researching candidates’ qualifications and platforms, which I did before I discovered your candidate cheat sheet. It’s been very difficult to identify a suitable candidate in this particular perp walk, but I know you’ll come through and once again lighten my civic load.
@23: It might do that. It also might increase voter turnout in Eastern WA.
It costs around $40 to vote overseas since we usually have to send our ballots via express mail to meet the deadline. I’m pretty sure that domestic ballots don’t require postage if they’re labeled as such?
I have a pdf of a postage free envelope that you all can use for elections only. email me if you want it at morgan malmquist at g mail dot com.
Dear everyone who took this post way too seriously. Wow.
who would you pick for Director of Elections? i have no idea?
and i agree that buying stamps is a PIA. we should not have to pay for postage. i almost did not get my last ballot in on time because of this. of course that is my fault but we really should not have to pay for postage on ballots in the first place…
I’m surprised so many people here are giving you shit. I’ve been whining about this for years (months?). We can’t put a price on voting, which is exactly what a stamp is, and, I’m fucking 25 years old. I don’t have stamps. I use stamps for voting, and applying to Basic Health. That’s it. Everything else (bank, mortgage payments, electric, etc. are all done electronically). Stamps, and the mail in general, are kinda outdated.
Although I’d also like to see them online.
This is the first election in 20 years in which I haven’t voted. I walk to my voting polls, always have. Yeah, I’m older than you. And I’m broke and I’m about to lose my job. A 42 cent stamp IS a big deal if it’s my last stamp and I have to pay my rent by posting a check in the mail. A lot of you privileged children have no idea what happens in the real world.